Fortnite Tournaments to Require Secure Boot, TPM, and IOMMU as Epic Cracks Down on Cheaters

Epic Games isn’t leaving any room for Fortnite cheaters, as it has rolled out stricter PC security requirements for tournaments while continuing an aggressive legal campaign against rulebreakers. The changes, set to take effect on February 19, reflect a wider push to reinforce competitive integrity at a time when online shooters face constant scrutiny over fairness.

Stricter PC requirements for competitive play

Under the updated rules, all PC players entering Fortnite tournaments must enable Secure Boot, TPM, and IOMMU. For those unaware, IOMMU is a hardware-level security feature that controls how devices access system memory, making it harder for cheat hardware to interfere with the game while it runs.

Epic says roughly 95% of Fortnite’s PC players use Windows 11-compatible systems, which means most should already meet the new standards or can enable them without buying new hardware. That being said, players with older or heavily customized setups may need to adjust their system settings to remain eligible for competitive play.

Apart from system requirements, Epic has said that it continues to pursue legal action against cheaters and those who profit from them. The company recently targeted a player accused of cheating and launching DDoS attacks, resulting in a lifetime ban across all Epic services.

Back in 2025, Epic secured a $175,000 court judgment against a tournament cheater who failed to respond to a lawsuit. It also filed cases against individuals accused of developing and selling cheat software, while reaching settlements in cases involving account theft and organized rulebreaking.

A broader crackdown on cheating

Epic says it continues to patch exploits quickly, secure its systems against reverse engineering, and relies on Easy Anti-Cheat’s kernel-level protection. It also uses data analysis and machine learning to flag suspicious behavior, alongside in-game player reports.

At a time when cheat tools are often sold as subscription services, targeting both players and developers may be a strategic shift. The bigger question now is whether stricter hardware requirements and legal pressure will meaningfully protect Fortnite’s competitive scene or simply push cheaters to adapt once again.